Cross
Birth Name: Edmund Nadelmann *'Aliases:' Zach, Erich, Mr. Glass, Dr. Colette, Stitches, Izzy, Mulligan, Stickey Joe, Dr. Richard, Stacey, J. Leeroy. Currently Cross publically, and Force incognito. *'Gender:' Male *'Age:' 32 *'Height:' 5'6" *'Theme Song: sweet Dreams Black Sheep ' *'Occupation: '''Pianist for Eclipse, occasional Fonk dealer *'Faction: 'Funk Mafia, former 'Square' *'Playlist: '''in the works History Edmund came to Step City with his adoptive parents in the early 80's from Leipzig, his father an engineer and his mother a psychoacoustics researcher on the STEP project. The move was an easy one to make for all of them, as Edmund too was interested in the study his parents were. Himself, he worked on his music hobbies and composing. He became good friends with a man by the name of Andy during his stay, and the arrival of V-day... seemingly brought him nothing. He wasn't in the research tower when the blastwave started, but survived despite relative proximity. He was damn happy enough with that. His family had always been about independence first. Sure enough, he was right, finding both again after the intial hellstorm of noise. When the remaining scientists attempted to wrangle back test participants... hah. The revolts were already out of control. Between isolation from outside help and people with superpowers, Nadelmann sr. figured this island was going tits up for anarchy. The Steppers were powerful - so the last thing he wanted to be was associated with the labcoats. His mother thought differently. He took on an alias with his father as test participants and disappeared conveniently. While the survivors slowly polarized into factions, formerly-Edmund came to realize he was not in fact square. As he learned more of his vibe, he was originally ashamed enough to hide it altogether. He wasn't going to pick a side and explain to people that he liked hurting himself. He only really knew what self-harm implied for non-vibe affected individuals, and he didn't want to imply that he might be insane. He used to be a lot meeker when he still had a normal sense of self preservation. It wouldn't last as he grew up, more comfortable with how strange life was becoming for everyone. Despite this, he managed to earn himself a psychology degree (specifically interested in psychoscoustics) while educational facilities were still... well. While things were more peaceful, if stepper-controlled. His father helped a lot in that regard. When the Dance War errupted - Phoenix and Cross stuck together until the fighting really got bad. It was bloody chaos. They got separated, and both thought the other was dead - Cross had to take on another alias to hide, and it hadn't been for his wound-taking ability, death might also have been Phoenix's fate before they were split up. It took till present day for them to finally run into one another again. Cross has... his vibe has changed him, and he's done a lot of terrible and arguably immoral things, but somehow their friendship is still there. Phoenix is probably the best influence on his life right now, including giving him a legit job and a place to sleep. Phoenix's loyalty to the Funk Mafia was the major factor in getting Cross to pick a side. Up until that point, he had played the 'square' to turn a profit, hawking goods and fonk between factions using his facelessness of squaredom as a convenient tool. The protection of the mafia is probably what's keeping his ass from a good permanent kicking now. Personality Cross is terrible. He's a good man in there somewhere, but it's a bit lost in a fog of self-defined morality that rubs some folks the wrong way (if he isn't rubbing them himself). He's sharp when he's lucid - given his penchant for alcohol that most distilleries would liken to winning the lottery, he's not lucid often. He also doesn't give a fuck. How is he supposed to worry about his health and safety when neither are in jeopardy anymore? He rolls with his weirdness and takes pleasure in just watching people's reactions to it. This doesn't mean he's not crafty or intelligent - he just doesn't choose to be bothered acting like it most of the time. Dance \ Vibe style Discofox, tap dance, tecktonic, jumpstyle, all of which he will typically blend into various hybrids, like he sometimes does with music genres. He can waltz and foxtrot, but on their own he finds both do little to get adrenaline going. His vibe ability is the manipulation of damage and pain. You to me, me to you, any spot to any other, so long as damage equivalence is matained. His abilities are not fully realized, with much of his focus spent mastering 'masking' his injuries. They don't heal while masked, but shifting one into equivalent pieces allows him to dissipate dangerous wounds gradually. As a result, Cross possesses numerous scars but most are faint. Anything fresh 'returns' the second he relaxes his vibe. His main limitation is distance - Cross needs body contact (clothes impede only minimally) to transfer damage. He uses vibe both to move as well as mask, so he runs the risk of leaving himself vulnerable should he actually attempt a long shot. Cross's tactic is returning injuries his enemies give him, though he prefers stocking up his own hidden 'ammo' to lash out if needed. He is much more likely to take on injuries from team mates at his own risk, since his risk is comparatively minimal. Don't stick him in a vendy. He instinctively (perhaps stubbornly) masks himself when injuries are affected, and the result is a tearing out of iridescent yellow-gold vibe energy along with everything he's hidden away. It leaves him very dull feeling. Miscellaneous Information Cross took royal conservatory piano for many years in his youth, and has since picked up skills with other instruments. The only one that he comes close to in his skill on piano is the trumpet - his is silver. Cross cannot mask while unconscious. Cross can be left terrifyingly vulnerable when he's asleep. He gets regular nosebleeds. Snorting fonk probably didn't help but he's always had them. His vibe has changed his perception of pain. Long-lasting suffering wears on him the same, but most accidents and especially masked wounds, just leave a living buzz he's grown really appreciative of. He still considers it pain, but his new tolerance for it is distressing. Cross likes naming things. A lot. His music player is Fabio, his trumpet Drianna, his Eclipse uniform's helmet Guy, and his rubber mafioso duck, Clancey. Category:Funk Mafia Category:Characters